Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} Everybody knows that sports are difficult. Athletes have to be willing, energetic and hardworking. And this is all true about gymnastic. Dimond’s gymnastic team is assisted by volunteer coaches Sara Schisler, Cyndy Cox and Sarah Schroeder; the two team captains are Amanda Schroeder and Stephanie Brenner; co-captains are Jaszlynn Irwin and Kiera Rust and head coach is Heather Greenough. “Gymnastics here is a lot of fun,” says Brenner, who has been doing gymnastics for 12 years. “We have a lot of different meets, such as vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor.” Gymnastics are enjoyable not only for students, but for coaches as well. “ I’ve always enjoyed the art of gymnastics. I think the greatest thing about gymnastics is how different every gymnast is. The skills might appear the same, but every gymnast put their own flair into the sport and I think that makes everyone unique,” stated Heather Greenough in an email interview. She has been a volunteer coach at Dimond since the fall of 2002 and head coach of Dimond since 2006. Every kind of sport has its negative sides too. Gymnastics is not an exception. “Gymnastics is a very tough sport and one injury can be life altering,” stated Greenough “The pain of having rips and calluses on your hands is not fun!” Brenner agrees completely with this point of view. She did Olympic track and seriously injured nerves in her back. She has problems with her knee and ankle too. “I love sports. Gymnastics is my passion,” she said “ When I feel strong pain, the best thing to do is just to stop and have some rest. “Some people have a natural talent for gymnastics, some have to work hard and some have no talent at all. My job is to encourage students, be a good example for them and keep positive, even if we had a bad meet or kids don’t want to work at all,” Brenner said. “ Some kids are hard workers and some kids need a little extra motivation. Not everyone responds with the same teaching method so I think it’s important to stir it up a little bit,” stated Greenough. “To me, it’s not about being successful as a team….It’s about being individually successful. We have girls that come on to the team and they know nothing about gymnastics and their skill level is zero. But they work hard, they work together and they learn so much! And the reward is seeing their face overjoyed when they achieve a skill that they have been trying to achieve all season. That’s true success.”